Our Best Chance Yet

It's Dartmouth Week!


Most long-time Columbia fans are still in shock that Dartmouth has become a winnable game every year since 1997. The Big Green owned us from 1972-1997 with just one tie marring their perfect record against the Lions. But after Dartmouth's 10-0 season in 1996, the team fell off the Ivy map for some reason. After a close loss at home in 1997, Columbia actually beat the Big Green FOUR STRAIGHT times from 1998 to 2001, including an all-out rout at homecoming in 2000. Since then, the games have been close and exciting. I expect the same in Hanover this Saturday.

Here's what we need to do:

1) I think Shoop could fire up the offense in practice this week by announcing that the shuttle experiment is over and Craig Hormann is the starting QB.

2) Jordan Davis needs to get a game where he has 15-20 carries to get better, so I'd like to see us avoid falling behind early so we can do that for him.

3) It's time to exploit Nick DeGasperis's incredible ability to get yards after a catch. He needs to be a target on screens much more than Brandon Bowser, who is a down-the-field deep threat.

4) The defense needs to harrass Dartmouth's freshman QB Josh Cohen. Cohen looked pretty good in the 4th quarter last week against Holy Cross, but some of that may have been because HC led 28-0 and was laying off the blitz by that time. Columbia needs to make sure Cohen sees pressure as much as possible.

5) I really think it's time for trick plays. Fake punts are nice, but with our strugglong running game, we need to use more end-arounds, reverses (with DeGasperis getting the ball), and flea-flickers.


Bits and Pieces

Homecoming was a dud on the field, but it was a great day for me and my daughter. First, we found out that our pick for the new Lion mascot name, Roar-EE, was chosen as the winner and now we have a 1-12 chance of winning a new iPod in a drawing during the Yale game on 10/29.

Also, the members of the Columbia Marching Band allowed my daughter to play all their drums at the end of the game and she was in HEAVEN! She definitely left Wien Stadium on Saturday thinking we had won!